


When the Knight Falls...

by CaptArthur (anauthorsworld00)



Series: The Journey of a Knight [1]
Category: X-Men - All Media Types, X-Men: First Class - Fandom
Genre: Friendship, Gen, I've changed their ages to make more sense and the timeline disappears into nothingness, OC, Slow Burn, There is literally no timeline, pretty much First Class but with my OC and my hope for a series, sorry I couldn't make it make any sense any other way
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-03
Updated: 2019-05-13
Packaged: 2019-08-17 06:48:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,012
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16511339
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anauthorsworld00/pseuds/CaptArthur
Summary: Roland is six when her powers manifest, nine when her parents institutionalise her and seventeen when she is broken out by two of her new favourite people in the world. Charles and Erik.She's going to do everything in her power to keep her people safe and somehow make a normal life for herself after all of this is over.We'll see though, won't we?





	1. In Which Our Knight Meets Her Comrades.

Roland looked up at the two men approaching her, she was in the most recent clinic that would take her on. Her parents were leaving her alone more and more these days, they had really just given up trying to figure out what to do with her. 

They sat down in front of her and she set aside the tablet she had been messing with, it hadn’t taken her fancy as usual but really there wasn’t much else to do in a medical clinic. 

“Roland Knight?”

“Yes, how can I help you?”

“It’s more how you can help us.”

“How do you mean?”

“Mutant right? Special abilities, that is why you are in here, isn’t it?”

“God yes, thank you, just let me grab my coat.”

“Pardon?”

“I’ve known it wasn’t just some disease, my parents never believed me. Can we go?”

The smaller of the two men laughed, “it’s nice to meet you, I’m Charles that is Erik.”

“Nice to meet you too. Can we go?"

“Of course, sorry, what is it you can do?”

“Oh, its something like particle manipulation, I guess. I can change the density of certain things, including myself. It's all pretty fun really.”

“Can you show us?”

“Uh, I guess so yeah. One moment.”

She picked up the tablet and set it down in front of her before leaving and returning with a plastic jug. 

“So if I change my density I can pass through this object, or if I wanted to change the density of the jug I could let it fall through the table.”

She showed off a few different options until she began to feel lightheaded. 

“Haven't been able to do any of this freely since I was a little kid. So if I do a lot I suffer these awful headaches. It's a bit like stopping an exercise regiment for months and then trying to dive back into the heavy stuff after doing none of it.”

Charles nodded at Erik who grabbed her coat from a rack and passed it over, “come on, let's go.”

“We are being held at a government site at the moment but that is only more of a temporary situation than permanent. There are others we’d like to introduce to you also.”

Roland nodded, “Anything is better than being in here, thank you for coming for me. I’m sure there were others you could have gone to.”

“No, thank you, we are helping our country with your help.”

“I’m just glad to be out of here so if that means I’m helping my country, so be it.”

Charles laughed again and looked over her at Erik, they’d found people, mostly kids and they had mostly been ostracised by their parents so it wasn’t kidnapping at all. 

One of the nurses looked concerned between Roland, Charles and Erik before fixing her gaze more firmly on Roland. Charles stepped forwards but Roland floored them all with her calm demeanour.

“It’s alright Dot, these are my uncles.”

The woman’s shift was amazing and the care in her eyes shone through overall, “are you taking her home then? I’ve been telling her parents for years that there isn’t anything wrong with Roland, well nothing we can help with anyway, but they never listened to me.”

Erik hesitated before nodding, tight-lipped, his hand found its way to her shoulder, “yeah we’ve come to take her home.”

Roland beamed up at him before catching Dot’s hands between her own, “good luck with Benny and Suzie, and thank you, for everything, Dot.”

“You have a good life now, kid.”

Roland beamed at her before motioning for Charles and Erik to lead the way out of the clinic. 

“You’re a good actress,” Erik stated. 

Roland shrugged her shoulders, “just comes with the territory I guess. If I acted crazy about being in here they would just prescribe antipsychotics and then the side effects would make me be put on antidepressants and then my parents would have won because they’d think there really was something wrong with me.”

“There’s nothing wrong with you.” Charles urged and Roland just nodded. 

“I know that, and it’s my parent's own fault that they don’t believe it. I haven’t spoken to them properly since my abilities first manifested and I was six. But that's only them, no one else has treated me any differently, in fact, the whole clinic thought my parents were the insane ones because I haven’t done anything of what I can do in years. So, once again, thank you.”

“Come on, let’s get you to the facility, and then you can meet the others.”

“I’d like that.”

//

 

The facility was alike the clinic she had been institutionalised in only hours before. It was dull and grey and governmental but she trusted these men. They were like her and she liked that. They had clearly noticed the similarities between the two buildings and moved to assure her that there was nothing similar about the two, that if she wound up not wanting to go along with their plans she could leave anytime she liked. 

Freedom. That was new. Free will, too. Felt good. 

Roland smiled, it was small and tight-lipped, as she thought about what they were saying to her. She looked at them and shook her head. “I’ll stay. I want to help.”

Charles smiled and clapped her on the shoulder as they made their way through the facility, Roland saw every disgusted glance and unhappy stare as they made their way past, Charles was blissfully unaware but Erik was getting stiffer with every time. 

Roland reached forwards and wrapped her hand around his bare wrist, “just because they don’t understand doesn’t mean they’re dangerous. They see us as weapons, but to us so are they, we just have to show them that we are still people too.”

Erik’s smile was little but it was there, they seemed to forget just how young she still was but she wasn’t naive, she would fight against the oppressive man if they started it but no amount of violence would solve anything. War still told some tales. 

The room Charles and Erik left her in held six other teens with something of a likeness to herself. They eyed her as she came in flanked by both men but still in the white sheet like clothing that was uniform at the clinic. 

She perched on the arm of a chair beside a grumpy looking soul. He looked up at her with bored eyes but she only grinned back down at him before listening back into the conversation, she had interrupted them with her presence, it was purely childish and she tried to enjoy the naivety while it lasted. 

“We should make up codenames. What do you want to be?”

The girl Raven announced, Roland really had never put any thought into what a codename she would ever have would be. She supposed her given name was as good as any what with how everyone at the clinics just called her Knight and her parents hardly spoke to her at all, all except for Dot that is but she felt the older woman wouldn't have too many issues with her taking up a real passion in something other than sticking it to her parents. 

“What about you?” Roland asked settling her back against the cushion of the chair grumps had claimed for himself. 

Raven looked up at her, eyes sparkling, and grinned, “I like Mystique.”

She changed her appearance and Roland laughed, that really was pretty good, very mysterious. They went around the circle announcing names until it reached Hank. He seemed like the kind of person Roland would have hung around with if she was actually allowed to attend school. 

“What about Bigfoot?” Grumps suggested from beside her, she leant down and elbowed him, “that's not nice.”

He turned to her, “well what about you, then?”

“I don’t know. Never gave it any thought. I guess my first name would work fine, no one really calls me it anymore so it wouldn’t be an issue if they could link it back to me.”

“Why does nobody call you it?” Hank asked that one thing maybe everyone had wanted to ask after her sad comment. 

She smiled lightly and scratched at the back of her head. “Uh, I’ve been in clinics since I was nine, it’s where Charles and Erik just picked me up from. I’d been living with my abilities since I was six but my parents first realised something wasn’t quite right when I was nine. The doctors called me Knight, my last name, and well I haven’t spoken to my parents in years now. I don’t have anyone who would be able to recognise me if my name remained as Roland. Plus it would be nice to hear it again these days.”

Grumps next to her smiled and pulled her a little closer on the chair so she wasn’t falling off. 

She turned to him this time, “what about you?”

“I don’t know either and I can’t just be Alex, I have a little brother. He was safer when I was still in solitary.”

Roland smiled at him and squeezed his hand, “I’m sure that's not true. I bet he thinks the world of you.”

“Thanks.”

“Show us what you can do!” Someone excitably exclaimed and Roland remembered she hadn’t shown either, and ‘Roland' doesn’t really sum anything up like Banshee or Darwin. 

She stood up, suddenly missing the warmth of Alex’s side, but pretended as if it didn’t bother her, it shouldn't bother her it was entirely new. 

“Uh, it's hard to explain. But you know particles are in everything, and I can manipulate them to change densities of anything, both objects and even myself.”

She wandered forwards hoping it would work when she opened her eyes she was halfway through the table. She had changed her density because if she had changed the tables density all of the cups would have fallen through. 

She walked back out and then looked at Alex, “come on then, what can you do?”

“You’ll get hurt.”

“Well, what about out there.”

He looked to where she was pointing and smiled, “yeah I can do it out there. But you have got to get back when I tell you though.”

Roland put her hands up and nodded following him to the glass window that had been shattered already by Banshee. He took his jacket off and handed it to her, stating it was cold and she hadn’t realised the gooseflesh on her arms from when the window had been blasted open. 

“Get back, get back! Fine then.”

He began to spin and lasers began to follow suit and spin out of him in turn. Roland shrieked and threw her hands up in front of her face, the lasers hit her shields and bounced away. Alex slowed his lasers as they slid through the bronze statue cutting off its head. 

She still had her hands up as Alex hesitantly approached, “I didn’t get you, did I?”

She looked up and locked eyes with him before shaking her head and lowering her arms. 

“No that was pretty cool. How about Havok?”

“I like it, Ro.”

“I like that too.”

He grinned at her and pulled her close by the shoulder of his jacket. She was small enough to tuck beneath his armpit and he worried just how well she’d survive all of this. 

//

Roland watched from her space curled up outside the window as Hank hung from the chandelier, Angel flew about and Raven danced on the couch. The room was a mess, the music was on loud and they were just being kids. But Roland had never been a kid, she’d grown up much too quickly and she much preferred sitting where she was with a book on military history. 

She already felt much closer to these people than she’d felt with anyone in years. Alex and Banshee were smacking Darwin with whatever they could find. Banshee had a three-legged chair and Alex had, what she assumed was, the other leg off of that three-legged chair. 

She liked that they were having fun. Everyone deserved fun, just her kind of fun involved curling up with a good book, unfortunately, this was the only book she could find. She’d make do. 

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?” 

Roland swore as she tucked in on herself, she hadn’t heard Moira and Charles and Erik come towards them, she would have warned the others, otherwise. 

“WHO DESTROYED THE STATUE?”

They still hadn’t noticed her and for once she was glad to be small. 

“It was Alex.” 

That was Hank, Roland glanced up at him from between her knees, she liked Alex he didn’t deserve to be snitched on. But Hank did seem to be the teacher's pet kind, she didn’t resent Hank for that she just wouldn’t have been so quick to admit who it was to the big bad authority figure with a shriek embedded in her voice that was almost as bad as Banshee's. 

“No, Havok.” Raven was giddy with all the pop she had been drinking, but she was still proud of her ideas of codenames, “we have to call him Havok, that's his name now, and we were thinking, you should be Professor X, and you should be Magneto.”

Roland cringed, it sounded cringy now that Raven spoke it aloud. 

“Exceptional.” Erik’s dry voice made Roland cringe even further in on herself. 

“Wait, why are there only six of you?” Moira’s voice made Roland twitch. Yeah, she wasn’t in view she forgot about that. 

“Where’s Roland?” Charles demanded a slight hint of worry hidden in his stern voice. 

Roland grabbed her book and held it in the air, “I’m here, sorry, I was reading.”

She pulled herself out of her hole and dusted herself off, she was still wearing Alex’s jacket but the white trousers from the clinic were tinged with green from the grass. Charles sighed and motioned for her to go back into the room where the rest of them were getting told off for their misuse of the space they had been given in the governmental facility. 

She walked across not before slipping her shoes back on and carefully making her way back through the window, aided by Alex who for the first time looked guilty about something other than when he had nearly killed her with his lasers earlier that evening. 

“I expect more from you,” Charles stated finally before all three of them walked out of view. 

Roland hung her head and Alex moved to tuck her against his side again. She’d never had any kind of mentor before even if Charles and Erik had only been that for a couple of hours she already felt his words settle heavily against her soul. 

They settled down after that, thankfully, Roland was glad that she wouldn’t hear another stern word. She wasn’t completely sure she’d be able to handle it.

They’d tidied up thank god and now Roland was curled up in one of the unoccupied chairs reading that shoddy book again while Angel, Raven, Banshee and Hank chatted in the main area. Alex and Darwin were playing pinball. 

Her heart hurt as she heard Alex say, “don’t worry about it, I’ve had a lot of free time.”

Maybe they had a lot more in common than she first thought. Perhaps that's why she gravitated towards him. Perhaps that's why they got on so well. 

The way Angel spoke had Roland looking around, everyone here was older than her. She’d never even thought about it like that. 

“You okay Roland?” Raven asked catching her looks from over her book. Hank had just closed the curtains so there was nothing else for everyone to do except look at her. 

“I’m good, just thinking. You’re all older than me, right?”

Raven shrugged, “I’m 22.”

Banshee was eighteen. Darwin twenty-three, same as Angel. Hank was twenty and Alex nineteen.

“So, Ro, are we?” Alex asked settling his back against the pinball machine. 

“Yep, seventeen.”

Hank frowned, “wouldn’t you have to have familial consent to be here then?”

“My parents haven’t seen me in years, they probably think I’m still in that clinic. And I lied to the nurses, said Charles and Erik were my uncles. I gave consent to be here so I don’t care if people think that's wrong, this was the first thing in my life I’ve been able to make a decision for myself on.”

Raven nodded, “fair enough, I mean, I’ve known Charles since I was eight and he was eleven so I don’t even know where consent even begins to come into all of that. I’m just glad to be here with all of you, my people, even if that does mean we have to deal with some idiotic people other times.”

Roland nodded and clicked her fingers towards her with a flourish, she knew exactly how to put it into words and Roland respected that. 

Their conversation lulled and then there was a sound outside. All of Roland’s hairs on her arm were standing on edge. She was afraid. Brilliant, like she needed that right now. 

It came again, then again, and then again. It was a booming sound that was as if it was coming from really far away and getting closer and closer. It was continuing at short bursts that were getting closer and closer together as it became louder and louder. Roland set her book down and followed the group of them towards the curtained window. Darwin opened them. 

“What is that?”

Something was being suspended in the air above them, in the light of the moon. Then it fell. 

Roland’s hands came over her eyes as she trembled, she’d figured out what it was before he even hit the ground with a sickening splat. Raven screamed and cried as everyone jumped away from where the dead man now lay just beyond the window. 

Then more people were falling and Roland continued to shake if only she could snap out of her terrified state she just might be able to save at least one of these sorry souls. But she couldn’t. Too much time in a clinic had left her vulnerable to this sort of pain, it just wasn’t something you witnessed every day at a clinic for mentally unstable people where ten per cent of the patients thought they were Jesus. 

Alex grabbed her by the waist and pulled her down behind one of the couches, she was muttering small indecipherable prayers as she kept her eyes squeezed shut and the bangs and the shots became more present. 

“It’s okay, come on Ro, please open your eyes.”

He pulled her hands off of her eyes and watched them open, she could see he was scared too, how selfish could she really be, he was putting himself on the line for someone who couldn’t tell that his pain mirrored hers. 

She sniffed and settled herself, she’d be strong for Alex, and for Darwin, and Raven, and Banshee, and Charles, and Hank, and Erik, and Angel. She was strong. She could be strong for them. 

She ran her hand over his cheek and he smiled sadly down at her as the shots continued. 

“I’m okay, Ro.”

“Good.”

The glass shattered again and he threw himself down over her, to stop her getting hurt. She hated him for it, she was supposed to be being strong for him as much as he was being strong for her. 

Alex was lifting off of her again as there was a sound from the other window. Wind. 

Really? Who in the government thought it would be a good idea to build rooms for people, with non-bulletproof glass, and two windows? She ought to have a word with their architect. But only if they survived this.

Then the devil man was back. He was slicing and dicing and maybe he would be an excellent chef except for the fact he seemed to have murderous tendencies and maybe giving him more access to sharp knives would be a bad idea. 

Darwin was trying to lead them towards the doors, sure they were sitting ducks in a room with two windows and a murderous devil outside one of them. Sure they’d been told to stay there. And finally, they also didn’t know where in the fuck they were in this maze of a CIA base. Stellar plan. 

And then of course, what do they do, they run into soldiers, soldiers who tell them to stay back. Roland’s hands come up as the shockwave of a blast hits them. It makes her stumble which is enough to have Alex hauling her back into the room they had just come from. Maybe she’d made a mistake telling everyone she was much younger than them all. She was just as capable as they were, maybe even more so, but she wouldn’t be having that argument right now. 

And then both windows were smashed open. Wind tunnel. 

A man had hit this one. Shoddy work, just plain shoddy. And now there was no point telling anyone because they might by this point all be dead. Yay. She had really chosen the right time to go and be granted some freedom. She might still have been alive if she’d have stayed in that clinic, brain dead sure but she would still be able-bodied, something she can't guarantee she’ll have in the next few minutes, or ever again with the way this day looks to be going. 

And now look, the dangerous symposium stood on the floor before them about to give their dashing speech. They all looked pretty dapper. Roland needed to stop thinking and just start to react, maybe not now of course but it would be something she would for sure be working on if she survived whatever evil, eviler and evilest had in store for them. A musical number would be splendid. 

“Where is the telepath?”

Charles?

“Not here.” Devil stated, of course, he would know, he’d been everywhere.

“Too bad.” No, it was bloody brilliant. Fantastic. Superb. “At least I can take this silly thing off.”

Roland was nodding before she even realised what she was doing, she did think the helmet looked silly he just didn’t seem to have the face shape for it. Oh, she so wished no telepath was there with them. 

And then, of course, he started speaking again, evilest seemed like the type to like his own voice, “Good evening. My name is Sebastian Shaw. And I am not here to hurt you…” 

And with him saying that came to the immediate death of someone outside. She felt Alex flinch and she curled her fingers around the loops in his belt buckle to assure him she was still there. 

“..My friends, there is a revolution coming. When mankind discovers who we are, what we can do, each of us will face a choice. Be enslaved or rise up to rule. Choose freely, but know that if you are not with us, then, by definition, you are against us…”

Yeah, Roland would rather be enslaved than used for his creepy agenda. Free will strikes again. Killing her more and more every time she makes a decision. Go, Roland! 

“So, you can stay and fight for the people who hate and fear you, or you can join me, and live like kings and queens.”

Angel took his hand and Roland’s fingers turned to fists against Alex’s belt loops, but she felt him jolt from the pain anyway. Betrayal always and would always suck. 

“Angel?”

“Are you kidding me?”

She had tears in her eyes as she said, “come on. We don’t belong here. And that's nothing to be ashamed of.” 

She followed him out of the once again, smashed, window. Devil boy and tornado man with him. 

“We have to do something,” Raven stated. But her voice was broken as if she wanted to do something but couldn’t find any actual plan to go with it. 

“Stop. I’m coming with you.” Darwin's move hurt and Roland buried herself further into Alex’s back. If they weren’t friends before, they would be after this, so long as he didn’t follow Darth Vader. She wasn’t certain if she’d be able to forgive that, ever. 

Shaw stepped forward to meet him, “good choice. So, tell me about your mutation.”

“Well, I adapt to survive. So, I guess I’m coming with you.”

“I like that.” Shaw nodded and motioned for him to join the line with the rest of them.

Roland had disentangled herself from Alex but she was stood beside him now, as well as her true friends, watching the force of evil where they stood on the edge of the grass. 

“Alex! Do it!” Darwin screamed and Roland’s eyes lit up as she realised what his plan had been. 

Alex shoved her away and Hank caught her. Roland flexed her fingers at her sides as she watched the man absorb Alex’s energy beams. Angel had already changed sides and she was beginning to feel the heartbreaking loss of a family for the first time, she wouldn’t let Darwin’s plan go to shit just because Angel was a no good traitor. 

“Protecting your fellow mutants, how noble.” Shaw was savage and he was turning his attention to Darwin. Darwin was good people and it was her turn to show her mutation. 

Focusing all her energy on the space between Darwin and the enemy, she pushed. Her hands shook and she felt the warm dampness of blood beneath her nose. 

“Ro?”

She ignored Alex’s worried look and focused more on the problem in front of her. The man was beginning to notice the pressure change and looked around, he couldn’t quite seem to get to Darwin.

“You’re strong.”

It was a statement but it also made Roland sick, what with that god awful smirk on his face paired with the hand he had open as if expecting her to jump ship from the good side to the bad. He had no hope unless he was hiding cookies in that suit jacket of his. 

Raven looked across at them and frowned, they had figured she’d be strong but they had never thought that it would be to that extent. 

“And you’re insane.”

“Feisty. I like the fierce ones, but you don’t fancy joining the winning team, do you? Too caught up in the family you never had, it's not a wonder little Erik had you brought in. But never mind, if you want to remain with your friends you will die among them.”

Alex was behind her now, his warm hands on her sides keeping her upright as the strain of keeping her shields up was wearing her thin. 

When they disappeared she fell back into Alex’s steadying embrace her eyes drooping. His arms held her close to his chest as she disappeared among the black. Her legs buckled underneath her, she would have crumpled to the floor had she not been held up by her new friend. She only hoped she had bought Darwin enough time.


	2. Our Knight Earns Her Stripes.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So there's been the betrayal, the death, the big scare, what possibly could go wrong next for our loveable heroes this coming time?

Alex held his head in his hands, Roland was still passed out but her breathing was normal according to Hank. Her powers had just used a lot of her strength, and it had been for nothing. Darwin had still died and Angel had still defected and Alex had been worried that he would have to mourn two new friends instead of one because he had completely forgotten to check Roland’s pulse point. 

Hank hadn’t said much when he checked on her, a little worried because Alex had assumed she was dead and had been carrying around a dead girl for a little less than three hours. More so that Alex had gathered together all the dirt he could find that he hoped were pieces of Darwin, something they could bury, something they could mourn rather than just pointing at a building and saying, ‘my friend died there, we couldn’t bury him because he exploded into rock and dust.’

They let Alex ride out his sorrow, they were all sorrowful, but the news that Roland really was alive was music to them all. At least now Alex could stop worrying about getting a kid killed because really Roland still was and they had never thought that it would ever be something weighing on their conscience, she didn’t act like a kid and it translated into their grief more so than you would think. The rest of them were adults but for all intents and purposes, Roland was a kid, seventeen but didn’t look a day past twelve, not of course that that made it any better at all. It made it worse and Alex needed to stop thinking about that. He also had to just leave her on the bench beside him, knee pillowed under her head so she looked like she was sleeping because Erik and Charles weren’t back yet and the five of them were no better off than they were before all of this started. 

Then there were soldiers, of course, there were going to be soldiers, three mutants just attacked a CIA facility and left with one more. Crisis alert. 

Then there was Charles, and Erik and Moira. They didn’t really care about Moira, Charles and Erik had brought them here. They would have the answers. 

“Raven?”

And then Raven was hugging Charles. Then the news came. 

“I’ve made arrangements for you all to go home.”

“What?”

“We aren’t going home.” Banshee stated, “he’s not going back to prison. Roland isn’t going back to that clinic.”

“He killed Darwin,” Alex argued, it was no fair that Shaw could get away with what happened, taking Angel, killing Darwin, exhausting Roland and then them expecting they would all just give up and go quietly home. No way. 

“All the more reason for you to leave. This is over.”

“Darwin’s dead, Charles.” Raven was tired of all this too, this wasn’t something that should even have happened. “And we can’t even bury him. Alex gathered some of his dust but we aren’t even sure if its all of him.”

“We can avenge him.” Now that sounded like an idea, and Erik was standing there like the god of war himself. He had everyone's attention and he’d better have a plan. 

“Erik a word please?”

Alex shook his head, they could do this. For Darwin, and for Roland, and she could help too if she ever did wake up. 

Charles looked back at them, “we’ll have to train. All of us. Yes?”

It was an overwhelming all-round achievement when Alex looked to Roland, “can we just make sure she’s okay first.”

Charles frowned at her, finally noticing their young friend laying prone on one of the last standing pieces of the wall they'd made their rest point until the adults came back. “What happened?”

“She tried to stop Shaw getting to Darwin. She passed out doing it. Been unconscious for a good three hours now.”

Hank looked around, wringing his hands, “well, we can’t stay here, even if we are waiting for Roland. And even if they reopen the department, it's not safe. We’ve got nowhere to go.”

“Yes we do,” Charles stated. Alex grinned and got up, this was the reason he'd left solitary confinement to be here, they knew what they were doing and he thanked them for it profusely. He wrestled his arms beneath Roland and nestled her against his chest. She wasn’t heavy but hopefully, there was a car. 

// 

There was indeed a car, well a military truck, but they couldn't all own their own cars now, could they. Alex surely wasn't complaining as he passed Roland off to Hank who wrestled her into a position so she could rest up against him while Alex crawled up into the back beside them and let her use his lap as a pillow. He couldn't help but laugh, it was pained and born from the fact she looked like a ragdoll in her current state, but he knew that if he wasn't laughing he'd be bawling and he wasn't prepared to deal with that in front of his new found friends just yet. That situation was for another day. 

Raven slid into the truck next, followed by Sean and then Erik who looked over them with sad eyes that turned to steel once more as Moira locked up the back of the truck behind them and covered it with the tarp. Yeah, they surely wouldn't draw any attention driving around America in this big ugly green thing. Moira and Charles would be sitting up front so Charles could drive them where they needed to go and Moira could observe just like she was trained to, plus this was her truck it was partially a given that she'd be pulling shotgun over them. She might actually own a shotgun too and that, potentially, was a scary thought. 

Wherever they were going he hoped it was close by, his arms ached and he knew he'd exhausted himself showing off and then trying to kill good old evil Shaw, what he needed was to get in bed and sleep off the next fourteen hours. Knowing their luck he'd get about three and would have to learn to love it. 

He dozed for maybe half of the trip, he couldn't tell you how long they'd been driving for, all he knew was he was tired, he was worried for their still comatose friend and paranoid about what his family might think of him if they'd known this was how he'd gotten out of solitary confinement. He mused that his mother wouldn't take it well, his dad would be indifferent and his little brother would be upset knowing that he hadn't been in contact straight away. It came with the territory he decided, but he would have to deal with that after all of this was over. A problem for a later time. 

His head was still in thoughts of angry mothers and sad little brothers when he finally felt the truck come to a rolling halt, presumably at their destination. He hoped it was their destination. 

He allowed Hank to pull her back towards him while Alex climbed out of the truck before willingly tucking her back into his arms. Both Sean and Hank looked too feeble to keep standing upright while holding her, and while she wasn't quite heavy anything could take a toll on your arms after a while. 

He adjusted her so she was cradled against his chest before he allowed himself his first look at Charles' 'castle' for a lack of a better word. It was huge, much bigger than anything he'd ever been in the presence of before. It held a wealthy atmosphere to it, built tall and wide, and it looked like it needed a moat. There was no doubt in his mind that even for the seven of them it would still be unfathomably huge inside. 

"This is yours?" Sean (or Banshee as his new name was) asked breathlessly, his arms crossed and his eyes fixed up the large stone building. 

"No, it's ours."

Alex huffed and shook his head but kept his arms tight around Roland, she was dead out of it and there was no way he was going to drop her even if that was the case. 

"Honestly Charles, I don't know how you survived, living in such hardship." Erik snarked looking around and across at the wide open spaces surrounding the huge stone building. 

“Well it was a hardship, softened by me,” Raven stated, coming through to stand between Charles and Erik. Charles placed his arm around her waist and pressed a kiss into the side of her head. Awfully friendly those two, if you asked Alex, but no one did so he kept his thoughts to himself. 

"Come on, time for the tour." 

Alex shrugged at Sean but moved forward to follow Raven anyway, he wanted to find somewhere good and safe to put Roland down so she could wake on her own time, not on their much faster timeline. 

He honestly didn’t understand how two people could be completely comfortable in such a large house but then again he had grown up both in solitary confinement and before that a bungalow that he had lived in beside his mother, father and little brother Scott. To him anything with more than four rooms was a mansion, and he supposed Roland likely felt much the same with her own life being confined to her personal cell at each of the institutions her parents had placed her in. 

//

When she awoke she was in a room, on a bed, it was four-poster, adorned with embellishments, and larger than any she’d ever had the pleasure to become acquainted with. The room was vastly decorated with rich colours and fancy furniture. There was a sharp pain in her head, deep with origins in the bridge of her nose flowing behind her eyes and peaked just above her eyebrows, it was low and throbbing, the light through the curtains was hardly making the pain better. 

She groaned as she pulled herself upright in the bed, there was a head-splitting ring reverberating through her brain, foreign hands braced themselves on her shoulders and rubbed lightly, it was reassuring but with her eyes closed she had little knowledge of who it was, she whined and brought a hand to her head. 

“Hey, hey, hey, shhh, shhh, shh, it’s alright, it's alright. Ro, it’s Alex. You exhausted yourself, please lay back down.”

He was pushing her back down into the bed, so she was laying down and the throbbing eased, it would have been worrying if she hadn’t trusted him as much as she had come to in the short time they had known one another. 

She groaned and pressed her palms into her eyes, tears sliding down her cheeks as Alex sat with her. She was gladdened to feel the weight of him on the left side of the mattress, pulling her closer with the movement of the sheets, she felt calmer than she had in a long while. 

“What happened?” She groaned keeping her palms over her eyes, it hurt too much to do anything other than keep her eyes tightly shut, and have her hands ensure they stayed that way. 

“You passed out keeping Shaw from getting to us.” Alex had his hand on her elbow, drawing light circles as his long fingers danced across her skin, they hardly knew one another that well but it felt almost familiar, this contact and comfort from someone. She suspected she was just touch starved from all the years in the clinics, him too if his experience in solitary confinement held any similarities to her own. 

“What about the others? Did anyone else defect?”

“Just Darwin, but you saw what we intended to happen - and then Shaw blew him up.”

Roland pressed back a sob, her hand drew up to her mouth as she kept her eyes shut, it hurt. Darwin had died despite her efforts, he had still died. Alex’s hand pressed closer, with more pressure, just enough to reassure her he was there and he wasn’t going anywhere, especially not if he could help it. 

Collecting herself, her head still ringing, too much information, too much death too much pain. She looked around the decadent room and then back to Alex, he was putting on a brave face for her she could tell that, he was ultimately pale and there were darkening circles around his eyes, she wondered after him. She hated that he was hurting in such a way, they had hardly known Darwin and Angel and yet the holes in them were gaping and unlikely to heal anytime soon. Pushing down the thoughts she gave him her own brave face. 

“Where are we, Alex?”

“Charles’ house, you’ve been passed out about 14 hours now.”

The response was almost instantaneous as nausea rolled through her and she rolled herself over to the other side of the bed where Alex wasn’t sat and vomited, her throat ached and her stomach growled. She hadn’t eaten in 14 hours and she had just thrown up the last of her stomach acid. At least her headache had dimmed. 

“What’re we doing here?” She pulled herself up and wiped away the gross liquid that lingered on her lips and around her mouth. 

“Training, though Charles didn’t want to start until he knew you were okay.” Alex handed her a tissue, not one bit perturbed by her vomiting, she thanked him with a smile. 

“Well you’d best tell him, and we’d best get started.”

“I’m sure he knows. I didn’t want to start training, either, until at least we knew you were okay. Hank’s been trying to create a formula that hides his mutation but we’ve all been on edge since you went down yesterday.”

“I have to get down there.”

“Yeah, we ought to get some food into you since you just puked up the last of what was in your system. C’mere Ro, I’ll help you.”

She wrapped an arm around his neck as he helped her to her feet, an arm supporting her around the waist. She stumbled once but tightened her grip on her friend. 

He grinned at her, “you wouldn’t believe this place if you saw it proper, honestly Charles grew up good, better than any of us.”

“Of course he did, you can tell it from his voice.”

She grinned back at him and sighed when they made it to the bottom of the stairs. “Can I forever hate stairs?”

“So long as you sleep on the ground floor from now on, I did have to carry you up them, this is better though.”

She gaped at him but her confusion was short-lived as she was soon bombarded by her new friends who extracted her from Alex’s grasp and led her into the living area where they had all made like their home. 

“So you’re okay then?” Raven asked helping Roland to sit down beside her, Alex’s hands leaving her from where he was supporting her, before looking around for what to do now and settled by the side of the couch, arms crossed. 

Roland smiled, “just a small headache now, I think I really might have needed that sleep.”

Her joke made them ease up a little but it was hard to think that she had once been passed out in a bed up the stairs while Alex visibly fretted over a girl he had hardly known a day, gathering darkened circles around his eyes, and they all wasted away unknowing if she was ever going to actually wake up again. 

“So how are we doing this training business? I presume we’re going after Shaw to avenge Darwin and make sure he doesn’t do anything too insane?”

Roland blinked at everyone as they were just content to stare at her, no words. 

It was then that Raven pulled Roland more securely into her side, “this is why we missed you, Roland, your ability to sum everything up into a few sentences no wavering.”

Roland grinned at her, though still confused that they had reacted in such a way to her thoughts. 

Shaking her head she turned to Charles and Erik, “so?”

Charles cleared his throat and nodded, “absolutely, Roland, Moira is keeping an eye on the situation from the CIA but we will need to make sure everyone's abilities are under control that means no more passing out on the job.”

Roland saluted him, “I’ll try my best, boss.”

Alex teased her with a smile, it was almost carefree but she knew she needed to be more in control to help, she wanted to help, “you’d better.”

//

Charles sat down with Roland sat beside him, everyone else had cleared out for their own bits of training that they could do without the supervision and mentoring that Charles had wanted to provide for them. 

Erik was out front lifting substantially heavier things with his powers, every time. Raven was in the training room, lifting weights and preparing herself for more and more changes, hoping she’d be able to pull through a more mental strain that came with most of their abilities. Hank was on a run around the property and Banshee was whistling his way through many of Charles’ glass sets while being observed by Moira. Last she had seen of Alex he had been lingering by the door to the study waiting for them to reemerge with Charles’ training plan for her. 

“So let’s go through the basics, what can you do?”

“I think it’s like particle manipulation.”

“In your own words, Roland, how would you describe your mutation.”

“I can create shields, I guess, I mean I stopped Alex’s lasers hitting us when we were practising at the base, but that was more instinct than something I had planned. I can modify my own particles so I can pass through objects, but I can also modify the particles of objects so they can either be harder or can pass through objects themselves.”

“Why do you think you passed out?”

“I held a shield too long, I held a shield up so when Darwin moved he couldn’t cross over to Shaw, it didn’t work enough because I passed out, and Darwin still died. I couldn’t do enough because I wasn’t strong enough, I was too weak to do anything other than be an inconvenience.”

“It did work, Roland, don’t blame yourself. Alex told me Shaw couldn’t get through the barrier and neither could Darwin for a good thirty seconds. I think you can do small acts without passing out continuously but the shock of trying to do lots of it all at once probably drained you.”

“What do you suggest, training wise then, boss?”

Charles rolled his eyes at her use of ‘boss’, “we have a short period of time before we need to be ready so I’m thinking weight training, first of all, get yourself physically prepared and then we can try altering your strength physically. Think you can do that?”

“Of course.”

He patted her shoulder as he stood up before offering her a hand up herself, “come on then, I suspect we shouldn’t leave Alex waiting too long or he will fear you’ve passed out again.”

She chuffed but knew he wasn’t joking, Alex had attempted not to be too far away from her ever since the incident, and now she worried he wasn’t paying enough attention to himself when he was protecting her. It made her only want to be stronger so she could protect him just as much as he was protecting her. He deserved that much and more. 

She grinned at him as she met him by the door, he relaxed substantially once he saw her on her own two feet, not a single sign that she'd overpowered herself once again, nor one that Charles was anxious about her. All good signs, all good signs. 

"Everything good?"

"I'm going weight training! Apparently, I've got to build up my physical muscles as well as my mental muscles, we just want to make sure I don't go passing out on you guys again, I'd like to actually help."

"And you will." He nodded at her and then at Charles, just to thoroughly convince her that everyone believed in her, not just him. 

//

Roland stood nervously in the bunker with Alex and Charles, she wanted to be there when Alex got his powers in check, she felt some sort of companionship with Alex, more so than she had felt with anyone in a while, maybe even ever. 

She picked the mannequin up for Charles and moved to place it downwind of the bunker where Alex would have to aim to actually hit it. She knew his lasers tended to have a mind of their own, and she knew that if he could do it so could she, she wouldn’t let him down not when he was trying his hardest and she had yet to do much more than bleed from her nose and nearly pass out, she had to be okay to make sure she could take care of him as much as he took care of her. 

“You should get back, both of you,” Alex advised them, making no move to start his training until they were well away from danger. 

She followed Charles back towards the other end but Alex shook his head, and Charles uncertainly followed his instructions, she wondered just what Alex was worried about in such circumstances, but they moved towards a place where she assumed Alex would feel they were out of harms way, and soon the main metal doors were sealed behind them. Charles shared a reassuring smile with Roland before slapping the door, “whenever you’re ready, Alex.”

It was only a few seconds before there was a whoosh and then the light at the side turned from green to red, Charles chuckled and opened the heavy metal doors to a scene Roland could have only imagined. Every single beam was on fire and Alex was just standing there as if this was exactly what he meant when he said bad things tended to happen when he used his gift. 

“Oh my God,” Charles stated before diving for the fire extinguisher he had brought just in case this actually was to happen, even if he had clearly been hoping it would not. 

“Roland don't just stand there, pick up a fire extinguisher and help me! If you had more control over your powers I would have you put out the flames but I don’t need you passing out on us for another day and a half.”

Roland sprung into action as Alex frowned, “why are you yelling at her? I warned you this could happen.”

Charles shot him a scathing look as he continued to extinguish the fires Alex’s powers had left behind, “I will teach you to control this Alex.”

Roland shot him a quick thumbs up and a shy smile, if Charles could help him get a handle on all this he would be a real force of nature what with the already witnessed power they ultimately knew he had inside of him. 

//

Roland flexed her fingers before focusing on what she could do and began to pass ping pong balls through Charles’ table as he lay them on top of it. 

“Okay, we know that’s easy for you, and let me look,” he shone a torch into her nostrils and nodded pleased, “no blood. Good start.”

He set six more ping pong balls onto the table, “Okay, now can you alter the particles in the table so they all go through at once.”

She did as he asked and allowed him to check for blood once more. It was a slow and tedious task but she knew if she faced Shaw and fainted she would definitely only put the team at more of a risk and then she would be no help to anyone. 

He set six more out and smiled, she knew it wasn’t going to be as easy as the previous tasks, she wasn’t that naive. 

“Right, next job, I want you to either alter the particles of the table or the ping pong balls, but only three of them must pass through.”

She nodded and frowned, thinking of what was the best way to achieve what he was asking of her, before she closed her eyes, flexed her fingers then just pushed the thought through. 

Opening her eyes she saw Charles grinning at her, and saw only three of the ping-pong balls had passed through the table. He checked for blood, saw there was none, checked her pupil dilation and deemed her fit and healthy. 

“Good job, come on, we've been working on some ideas for Sean, you can help.”

//

Roland took the stairs two at a time as she raced to get back to where she'd left Hank and Charles in the newly formed lab, she grinned as she saw Sean being strapped up into what she could only describe as a flying squirrel suit and she couldn't wait to see him test out Hank's IQ in such a manner that would have astounded her two weeks ago. 

She hopped up towards the window to the left of where Sean had set himself on the windowsill of the open window, Raven, Alex and Erik were watching the events unfold gleefully from the other window. 

"Now remember, scream as hard as you can," Charles advised keeping his eyes set on Sean. 

"You need the soundwaves to be supersonic. Catch them at the right angle and they should carry you." Hank explained, though to Roland it didn't mean any more than scream and you'll fly. 

"Should? That's reassuring," Sean asked worriedly and Roland grimaced, maybe that wasn't the right wording to use when they were advising him to jump out of a window. 

Charles chuckled and patted his back, "good luck. And don't forget to scream!"

Sean took a deep breath and opened up his wings, he tilted himself forwards and let out a yelp as he plummeted towards the ground. 

Roland winced and peered down at his crumpled body on the floor, that definitely wasn't a scream, and it wasn't particularly manly, but he was jumping out of a second storey window so she didn't fault him on that. They might have to take a different approach though, whether there would be a next time of course. 

//

Roland was helping Sean to walk off the pain while she messed with the air particles around them, she figured, had she been stronger she might have been able to catch him, but she hadn't reacted and she definitely would have passed out. 

He stumbled and she caught him quickly, he grinned and shook her off, "all good with me, Roland, you know might as well get back on the horse, the fall wasn't too much of a shock, I just, ya know, expected to fly. But my fearsome yelp didn't quite catch me at the right angle to get me supersonic."

He was mocking Hank and himself, and she grinned at his enthusiasm. But she pursed her lips all the same and shook her head, "I'm just chalking it up to your first time jumping out of a window, Sean, I'm sure you'll get to flying soon enough, maybe fewer windows though?"

He laughed, "I don't even want to think about what they have planned for me next. Charles has just got you on training right?"

"Yeah, building up arm muscles is my new power, but I've been messing with the densities of air these past few days, tripping up people every now and again, I think exposure therapy is doing it for me right now but I don't want to overwork myself too soon before this big fight."

Sean nodded, "I'm sure Charles has got some big plans for you just yet, watch it I'll be right and you'll be naming me the Oracle next, not the Banshee."

She laughed and shook her head, a grin splayed across her lips. It widened as she noted the fast-moving blur that passed them on the garden path, "Way to go, Hank!!"

Sean whooped, his hands cupped around his mouth to provide echo to his enthusiasm, it was nice to see everyone improving after only just a short time at the Xavier Mansion. 

She smiled and tapped his arm, they'd better go back inside before they were both needed for their next parts of training, in fact, Roland probably should have been lifting weights right about now. He grinned and nodded, he'd follow her in. 

// 

Charles had both Alex and Roland meet in the bunker with him and Hank. The lanky genius handed a top to Alex and gloves to Roland. 

"They're both only prototypes, and we want to check them separately first but then I think you both might be useful for channelling one another's powers. But it's only a hypothesis. We don't know if it works just yet."

Roland nodded, testing the weighty gloves in her palms, they were metal and they weren't particularly comfy but she looked a hell of a lot less dorky than Alex did in his metal-ringed tank top. She grinned at him and he only rolled his eyes at her though there was a peak of his tongue that suggested to her he was fighting not to stick his tongue out at her. It only made her grin widen, he shook his head at her good-naturedly. 

Charles shared a smile with Hank as they helped Alex into his shirt properly and he only let them with a pained look on his face as Roland observed every last bit of his discomfort and her grinning about it didn't make him feel much better. 

"Sexy." He deadpanned and Roland snorted, her hand coming up to cover her mouth. 

"Don't worry the real one will look much better, it will be a whole suit. See these sensors measure your energy output, this panel focuses it and the excess is absorbed."

Charles smiled, "alright, try hitting the one in the middle. Just the one in the middle, mind. Good luck."

He herded both Roland and Hank from the bunker ready for when Alex lay waste to the apparently indestructible bunker once again. 

Roland held her hands together, clasped tightly in front of her as she kept her eyes trained on the currently green light. She bounced on the balls of her feet when she heard the first whoosh of his plasma, then frowned as she heard the second, then the alarms went off and the light was back to red, her optimism dropping. 

Charles patted her on the shoulder, before opening the metal doors once again, the devastation wasn't as bad this time around but it still wasn't good. He held up his hand to stop Hank from putting out the fires with the fire extinguisher and turned to address Roland. 

"If you can I want you to smother this bit of fire. Just this bit, not all of it. I just want to see if those gloves have any effect on your abilities or whether it is easier to train you as you are. We'll try both ways and then we'll check for blood, sound good?"

Roland nodded feeling slightly more confident when she met Alex's steely supportive gaze from the other side of the bunker. She took a deep breath before pushing outwards, she could identify the different particles of the flames and the oxygen. Her fingers tingled as she pushed the oxygen away from the greedy fire. She frowned as she felt she couldn't diminish the flame particles altogether but she also couldn't smother it so much either. 

She took off the gloves before prompted and pushed, she could feel the atoms all around her and the flames went out with ease. Hank was muttering to the back of the bunker and she turned to speak to him, "I couldn't identify the atoms as much with something blocking me like the gloves. Sorry, Hank."

He shrugged, "it's no bother, I'd hoped to take some of the strain off of you when creating those so you wouldn't pass out again but I think they've had the opposite reaction I intended them to."

She nodded, thankful. But then bored as Charles shined the torch up her nose, it was a minute before he was satisfied and she smiled once he was done. 

He looked over at Hank and then back to Alex, "we'll call you back down here when we have our next session. Roland, please continue with the weights, we need you top strength for this inevitable fight."

She nodded, saluted him and bowed. 

He laughed.


End file.
